Article 227
(1) Services related to insurance agency services or brokerage may be performed only by those insurance agencies or brokerage companies which have obtained an authorisation to provide services related to insurance agency services or brokerage.
(2) No person other than those referred to in the preceding Paragraph hereunder may perform services related to insurance agency services or brokerage.
(3) Business related to insurance agency services or brokerage which are provided by natural persons on the basis of employment or other legal relation in an insurance undertaking or company defined in Paragraph (1) hereunder shall not be deemed to be services pursuant to Paragraph (1) hereunder.
(4) Insurance agency services may also be carried out by other entities, provided the policies are underwritten which are directly related to the main service performed by them (for
instance, freight forwarders and persons engaged in tests of vehicle roadworthiness), and have acquired an authorisation to perform businesses relating to insurance agency brokerage. (5) Notwithstanding the provision of Paragraph (1) hereunder, insurance brokerage services may also be performed by banks which have obtained appropriate authorisations from the Bank of Slovenia. The Bank of Slovenia shall grant an authorisation on the basis of the prior opinion of the Insurance Supervision Agency.
(6) The Insurance Supervision Agency shall be obliged to provide the opinion referred to in the preceding Paragraph within a time period of 45 days from the date of the receipt of the request. When the Insurance Supervision Agency fails to provide an opinion within such time period, the opinion shall be deemed to have been given or the Bank of Slovenia may issue the authorisation referred to in the preceding Paragraph without an opinion from the Insurance Supervision Agency.
Obligations of insurance undertakings
Article 228
An insurance undertaking shall be obliged to ensure that services related to insurance agency services or brokerage are only performed for it by the entities referred to in Paragraph (1), (4) and (5) of Article 227 of this Act.
Insurance agencies’ association
Article 229
(1) Insurance agency and brokerage undertakings shall be associated within the insurance agencies’ association, organised as a commercial interests association.
(2) The insurance agencies’ association shall: 1. (deleted);
2. perform tasks of common interest to insurance agency and brokerage undertakings, as stipulated in the agreement on its establishment or other legal documents relating to the association.
Authorisation to perform businesses relating to insurance agency services or brokerage
Article 230
(1) Businesses related to insurance agency services or brokerage may be independently performed within insurance undertakings, insurance agencies or insurance brokerage companies or persons referred to in Article 227(4) of this Act or the banks referred to in Paragraph (5) of Article 227 of this Act only by natural persons granted an authorisation from the Insurance Supervision Agency for performing insurance agency services or brokerage business.
(2) An ancillary insurance agent or broker is a person seeking potential policyholders without providing any details of the insurance agency business and without signing any insurance documents whatsoever. An ancillary insurance agent may receive an insurance proposal addressed to the insurance undertaking. The work of an ancillary insurance agent shall be included into one-year experience period required for the authorization to carry out business, when they operated under the mentoring of a person holding the authorization of the
Insurance Supervision Agency to carry on insurance agency or brokerage business. The person referred to in the preceding Paragraph under the supervision of whom an ancillary insurance agent or broker performs his work, may at the same time mentor only five ancillary insurance agents or brokers.
(3) A dependent insurance agent shall be a person who performs insurance mediation business on behalf and for the account of one or more insurance undertakings for various types of insurance products that do not compete with each other, where such person does not collect premiums or amounts intended for customers, and operates under the full responsibility of the insurance undertakings for the insurance they offer. Persons performing insurance mediation business in addition to their principal professional activity shall also be deemed to be
dependent insurance agents operating under the full responsibility of the insurance
undertaking for the insurance products they offer when the insurance supplements goods and services supplied within the context of such principal professional activity and when the person does not collect premiums or amounts intended for clients.
(4) The Insurance Supervision Agency shall grant a licence for performing businesses related to insurance agency services or brokerage when such person meets the following conditions: 1. he/she has successfully passed the examination of expertise necessary for performing businesses related to insurance agency services or brokerage;
2. he/she has obtained one year's experience in the area of insurance businesses, obtained on the basis of employment or other legal relation with an insurance undertaking or insurance agency or brokerage company;
3. he/she has a good command of the Slovenian language;
4. he/she has not been given a final non-suspended prison sentence of at least three months for a criminal offence against property or the economy;
5. that the Insurance Supervision Agency did not withdraw the said person’s authorisation to carry out insurance agency services or brokerage business within the last five years.
(5) Insurance brokers shall be obliged to attach to their application for the authorisation to carry out insurance brokerage business a certificate of professional liability insurance referred to in Paragraph (4) of Article 222 of this Act.
(6) The Insurance Supervision Agency shall withdraw the authorisation to carry out insurance agency services or brokerage business when:
1. it was obtained on the basis of a statement of false data;
2. the insurance agent or broker has been given a final non-suspended prison sentence of at least three months for a criminal offence against property or the economy;
3. an insurance agent repeatedly violates the provisions of this Act referred to in Article 217 of this Act;
4. an insurance broker repeatedly violates the provisions of Article 225 of this Act;
5. an insurance agent or broker, in carrying out insurance agency or brokerage businesses, seriously violates the good business practice;
6. the insurance agent does not have professional liability insurance in accordance with Paragraph (4) of Article 222 of this Act.
7. an insurance agent repeatedly violates the obligations referred to in Article 221 or Article 222(1), (2) or (3) of this Act.
(7) A repeated violation referred to in items 3, 4 and 7 of the preceding Paragraph shall be deemed to be a violation by the insurance agent or broker when recurred at least once within five years upon the last violation of the same type.
(8) A proposal to withdraw authorisation to perform insurance agent or brokerage business may be issued by the Association of Insurance Agencies, the insurance undertaking, the
employer or the Slovenian Insurance Association. The Insurance Supervision Agency shall inform the submitter of the proposal to withdraw authorisation and the Slovenian Insurance Association of the withdrawal of authorisations.
Register of insurance agents and brokers
Article 231
(1) The Insurance Supervision Agency shall keep the register of insurance agencies and insurance brokerage companies authorised to perform businesses related to insurance agency or brokerage on the territory of Slovenia in compliance with this Act.
(2) Insurance undertakings shall be obliged to keep a register of insurance agencies which perform insurance agency activities for them on the basis of legal relations and a register of insurance agents who, on the basis of employment or other legal relations with them, perform the insurance agency business.
(3) An insurance agency, brokerage company or a bank referred to in Article 227(5) of this Act shall keep a register of insurance brokers or agents who shall conduct insurance agency or brokerage business on the basis of employment or other legal relationship with the insurance agency, brokerage company or a bank. The insurance agency should keep a register of the insurance agencies that carry out insurance agency business on its behalf on the basis of a legal relationship.
(4) The registers referred to in the previous Paragraphs hereunder shall be public.
(5) The Insurance Supervision Agency shall regularly inform the Association of Insurance Agencies of:
1. the granting and withdrawal of authorisations for performing activities related to insurance agency services or insurance brokerage;
2. notifications of insurance agencies or insurance brokerage companies referred to in Article 241 of this Act;
3. the granting or withdrawal of licences for establishing a branch of a foreign insurance agency or insurance brokerage company.
(6) Registers of insurance agencies and insurance brokerage companies must also contain a statement of the persons in the management of such undertakings. The aforementioned registers must also contain information on registers of insurance agencies and brokerage companies in Member States, on supervisory authorities in Member States and on the states in which insurance agents and insurance brokers may perform their activities or business.
Supervision
Article 232
(1) Supervision of insurance agents or brokers and insurance agencies or insurance brokerage companies shall be conducted by the Insurance Supervision Agency. Supervision of banks referred to in Paragraph (5)of Article 227 of this Act shall be conducted by the Insurance Supervision Agency, in cooperation with the Bank of Slovenia.
(2) The provisions of Articles 172, 173, 175, and Paragraphs (1) and (4) of Articles 176, 177, 179, 180, 183 and 184 of this Act shall apply as appropriate to supervision referred to in the preceding Paragraph hereunder.
Regulations on insurance agents and brokers Article 233 The Insurance Supervision Agency shall prescribe:
1. detailed conditions for obtaining and examining the expertise necessary for performing businesses related to insurance agency services or brokerage referred to Paragraph (4)(1) and Paragraph (5)(1) of Article 230 of this Act;
2. detailed regulations on the method of keeping the register referred to in Article 231 of this Act, the data entered in these registers, and the method of public access to this data;
3. the detailed contents of the reports referred to in Article 239 (1) of this Act, as well as the deadlines and methods of reporting.
13.3.2. Insurance agencies or brokerage companies